And while they looked steadfastly towards heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; who said unto them, men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, will so in like manner as you saw him go up into heaven. – Acts 1:10 – 11
The angels said, “This same Jesus who was taken up from you will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” That means that Jesus is coming back. Personally, I do not know when, but the angel said He will. I believe that!
Jesus is the Son of the living God. Some people do not believe that, but it is the truth from the Bible. He was sent by God to die in this sinful world so that you and I can be saved and delivered from hell and destruction. We all are familiar with His story. He was divinely born into the home of Joseph and Mary by means of Immaculate Conception. He grew up like every normal child, and at the age of 30, He began His ministry of preaching, teaching, healing and casting out the devil. He brought the good news of salvation that God never intended for man to perish, but that all should come to the Lord through Christ and we should have repentance and come to eternal life. That was His purpose of coming to this world. For thirty-three and half years, He was here on earth, lived with His people, walked the shores of Galilee – the Bible talks about how God anointed Jesus with power, He went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil for God was with Him. At the end of His three and half years work on earth, it was time for Him to pay the ultimate price and He was accused falsely, framed up, judged, sentenced and led to a place called Golgotha, where He was beaten, bruised, flogged with dangerous whips, His flesh torn and abused, His head mangled and finally, He was crucified, hanged on the cross of Calvary between two criminals. Jesus took all these for you and I. He died and went to hell. He came back after three days and began to fellowship again with His disciples.
The disciples may have thought He would remain with them forever. However, after He had been with them for a short time, He led the disciples to a mountain; and while they stood there looking, He was taken up to heaven. And the angels brought them to reality that, yes, He is gone up to heaven, but He is coming back. Right now, if you look up, you will not see Him coming back, but soon He will.
Friends, I am excited about Jesus’ second coming. He is coming to take His own – those who have accepted Him and given their lives to Him. If you happen to be alive at the time of His second coming, what will happen to you? It is not only a matter of His coming. Whether He comes now or later, you will die one day; soon perhaps. But assuming that you are here for the next 50 years, what are you going to do with your life? Are you going to be worshipping God or are you going to be roaming the streets looking for women, drinking and smoking or even looking for people to kill and steal from? Will you still be destroying people with your mouth?
You may be an armed robber or an occultist and you may have killed so many people and done so much evil; but with Jesus, you can come back to yourself and say: Father, I am sorry. He will forgive you. That is the goodness about God. It does not matter who you are – you may be a witch or wizard or native doctor or water spirit. The important thing is: Do not die the way you are. Know that every minute is a borrowed time. Before that time is taken from you, what are you going to do with Jesus? Are you going to keep putting Him off?
The preaching of the gospel is not to make you afraid so that you stop what you think is the fun of your life – drinking, smoking, womanizing and ‘manising’ and committing all manner of sins. Truth is that you are going to pay for everything you are doing if you do it without Christ. You can do what you like, but at the end of the day, God is going to judge you based on Jesus, his Son because He is the One He sent to die for us – nobody else paid the price. Jesus gave His life so that you do not have to pay for your sins. It is good news that for that sacrifice when you die, you go to heaven. There is hope because of Jesus; not because of your good works or righteousness.
What then do we do? We must receive Christ and accept Him into our lives as Lord and Saviour. The angel said: This same Jesus that you see go up, in the same way you will see Him come back. You have to be ready to see Him. You cannot see Him in sin and iniquity. Friends, accept Him now. Do not say tomorrow because tomorrow may never come. So many people said tomorrow, but they died the day before. Hell is full of people who said tomorrow. Now is the time for salvation. Age is not a determining factor. People die at any age. Anytime you hear the good news is another opportunity to say yes to Jesus and no to the ways of the sinful world. Some people have heard about Jesus several times yet they are adamant. Please, do not harden your heart, Jesus is calling you.
When Jesus returns, He wants to find you doing something for Him – not committing sin. How long are you going to be running from occultist to native doctors and burning candles and incense? There is no help in those things. They would rather compound your problems. Come to Christ the way you are. Jesus is the answer to everything you are looking for. He is the Prince of Peace. There is no peace anywhere else – not in a bottle of beer or drugs or night clubs .The peace of God is in Jesus. Jesus is waiting for you as you say this prayer, meaning it from your heart.
Father, be merciful unto me a sinner. I am a sinner. Please, forgive me. Lord Jesus, I believe You died for me. I confess on the third day You rose from the dead. Please, come into my life. Be my Lord, be my Saviour, be my Master. From today, I say yes to You. I give my life to You. Thank You. I break every covenant with the devil. From today, I am born-again. Amen.
This is the most important prayer in the world. It is the prayer that can take you from hell to heaven – if you keep your promise of remaining with Jesus. If you prayed this prayer, you have become a Christian. There are three things I say to new Christians like you:
1. Pray in the name of Jesus.
2. Get a Bible and begin to read from the book of John.
3. Look for a good Bible-believing church. There are good churches; join one and become active serving the Lord there.
Friends, may God bless and lift you. Let the power of sin, sickness and disease be broken and let the total package of goodness in Jesus Christ be released to you, in the name of Jesus. Amen!
NB: First published August 2014